The memory of the Comissão Pastoral da Terra (Pastoral Land Commission) of Juazeiro in front of the mining in Bahia semi-arid region

• Grant number: 23/02480-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: May 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Rural Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Jorge Luiz Mattar Villela
• Grantee: Gabriela de Paula Marcurio
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/07886-8 - Arts and semantics of creation and memory, AP.TEM

Abstract

The objective of this research project is to describe the memory creative praxis in the struggle of traditional rural communities associated with the Comissão Pastoral da Terra - CPT (Pastoral Land Commission) in Juazeiro dioceses, northern Bahia. The specific interest is the conflicts with mining and Fundo de Pasto (FP) traditional communities due to the recurrence of clashes over the expropriation of common land. The mineral frontier expansion threats Caatinga ecology and thwarts the FP peasants' livelihood, who stand up to the enterprises rush. I propose to follow the CPT Juazeiro in fieldwork to observe the agentes pastorais (pastoral agents) practice with the communities and to examine the diocese archive looking for clues that outline the fight against mining companies. I argue that the memory constitutes and is constituted within these conflicts from the hypothesis that mining conflicts are in a wider historical line about the struggle against the expropriation of the semi-arid region people.